Question: Do you agree with testing products for humans on animals? (e.g. Cosmetics and medicines)

Good question! We have to balance the potential or actual harm done against the potential for good outcome. It depends on your personal value system. Animal testing for cosmetics is not something I want to support and so I try to buy products that haven’t been tested on animals. Animal testing is an important part of the process for development of new medical treatments. When this is done in a careful way so as not to cause unnecessary suffering and is conducted following strict guidelines, I believe the benefit outweighs the harm done.

Sandra says it well. If you believe that all life is sacred, then you may choose to not test medicines on animals, but which would slow down the rate of discovery and would cause humans to fall ill and maybe die. Does saving a few animals justify humans dying?

The other side is that the sooner there is a cure for diseases, the sooner things can be wiped out and not only do animals not need to be tested on, but humans also don’t suffer. But imagine if an alien race decided to use us to experiment on – we wouldn’t be too happy about it, and so we could extend that same thought experiment to us using animals.

There is no right or wrong answer. I personally am waiting for supercomputers to develop, or for Artificial Intelligence to arrive, so that there is no need to test on animals.
I don’t disagree with it, as Im sure Ive received medicine that was tested on animals at some point, but equally I do not encourage it.

There’s always the dilemma of whether the good of testing outweighs the impact on the animals. This is always a hot topic and many debates are held on this. Whether you think it’s positive or negative, one positive thing is that the UK has some of the most strict regulations on this regarding animal protection in the world.

Until there is a viable alternative, I personally am for animal testing, if it will potentially lead to medicines etc that can save lives.

Comments

Great! Testing medicines and cosmetics is definitely something I don’t agree with strongly unless its completely safe to the animal. This is both animal friendly and a good quality to have as a scientist!

Expanding on Lewis’ great answer. In order to reduce animal testing we try to use simpler model versions of the complex systems that work in animals and people. We can do a lot of the early testing in cells that we grow outside the body or in bacteria. I personally cannot do experiments on animals and this is one of the main reasons why I went into molecular biology and work with bacteria.